Formerly thought to be a color morph, the Western Grebe was split into Clark's Grebe (pale morph) with Western Grebe retained for the dark morph in 1985. These large swan-like grebes of Western North America are best distinguished by the placement of the red eye. Birds with the eye surrounded by white are Clark's while Western Grebe has the eye mostly surrounded by dark as seen here. Bill color is also helpful. Clark's has a brighter yellow-orange bill while Western has a duller yellow-olive bill.
